Good and Bad PR: Amazon and Frasers Group win retailers of the week

We continue to race through the year, and I don’t know about you, but I am increasingly struggling to keep up with the frantic pace of the news agenda.

Fear not though, I am here to try and keep everyone on the straight and narrow. God help us all!

Good PR

Amazon

Let’s start on something positive. A retail brand that has had a great week is Amazon, with its announcement of the next Prime Day and the resulting global coverage. Amazon is another brand that has struggled with its media approach in the last 12 months.

After the success and boom of online sales during Covid, it was one of many global brands that was caught on the back foot as internet shopping stats did not continue to grow as expected. The share price was damaged and it seemed like it faced a period of business uncertainty.

The announcement and subsequent media pick up of Prime Day taking place on 11-12 July 2023 has been spectacular to watch. No doubt this is amplified by the collective media using Amazon Associates to try and monetise their own traffic and visitors. Even if this is the case, it is still probably the most positive reaction that I have seen in some time. Nice one Team Amazon.

Mike Ashley and Frasers Group

Mike Ashley and Team Frasers have often received a dollop of criticism from this sceptical PR columnist, and dare I say, the media in general. I am starting to feel that, in the court of public opinion, the tide is turning in his favour though.

In a good-news story for Frasers, originally broken in the retail trade press, it was revealed that he has taken a 9% share position in Currys and 5% in Boohoo. The narrative and tone around the media stories that covered this was largely positive about the skills and expertise of Frasers.

If you think back to a year ago, much of the Frasers coverage was negative and Ashley himself received severe criticism. Fast forward to now and that has turned around.

The hugely influential Retail Gazette has listed all the brands that Frasers now owns or has shares in and it is quite the group. Mulberry, Flannels, Hugo Boss, AO, Missguided, Sofa.com, the list continues.

Anyway, the group gets Good PR, not just around the Currys and Boohoo news, but for its comms teams completing a significant change in the tone and style of articles that are now written about it.

Bad PR

Humans

Humans, as a collective, once again get the Bad PR nod for putting the Earth on the wonk. Scientists have discovered that we have removed so much water from the ground that is has affected the axis and rotation slightly.

The effect of this is not yet fully known, but it is said to have an impact on climate change. Bring in Greta, and can everyone please stop digging holes in your lawns and messing with the water tables. Personally, I blame whoever is responsible for the growth in muggles using ice baths in their gardens. So maybe it is Wim Hoff’s fault.

More Good PR

Spotify

Spotify gets a Good PR gong this week for the way in which it is trying to get us to pay more, without increasing the core price of its subscription music service. The jolly green music giant watched on as Apple Music received a barrage of abuse when it lifted the price of its own service and must have been pondering how it could charge more, without getting a kicking.

Step forward a plan to offer people a more high-fidelity level of music if they pay a little extra for their subscription. The basic plan will stay the same price. Music snobs, you know those vinyl record collectors who are so keen to force reference to their black circle hobby into the conversation that you could be forgiven for thinking they are also vegans, will no doubt be keen to sign up.

It has been well received by muggles and media alike and it even got me trying to carry out hugely scientific tests of my headphones. Turns out, I am not a music snob and my favourite track, Agadoo, sounds the same no matter what platform I play it on.

Got it right or wrong? Come berate me on The Twitter, @10Yetis

Written by Andy Barr, owner of 10 Yetis Digital. Seen any good or bad PR lately? Abuse and contradictory points welcomed over on The Twitter @10Yetis or andy@10Yetis.co.uk on email